Remarking on the Hawks big win, Wirtz said that the team didn't have any choice but to win.

"You just roll up your sleeves and put good people in the right positions," he told reporters, noting that a congratulatory call from Mayor Rahm Emanuel was "very gracious."

Anne Fernandez, a 21-year-old Tribune Company employee was able to reach through the throng and lay a few fingers on the trophy before it was whisked away.

The Cup then made its way to WGN Radio in the Tribune Tower, 435 N. Michigan Ave. Afterward, it disappeared into a car on Lower Michigan Avenue before returning to the United Center.

After about 40 fans waited for more than an hour for a glimpse at the trophy, a United Center security guard told them that the Cup had been covertly carted out in two separate boxes — in full view of the crowd, who waited for nearly a half hour longer before leaving disappointed.

Further disappointment awaited more than a dozen Cuptrackers when a tweet named Rock Bottom Brewery as the next stop for Stanley.

The rumor was false, but several sports fans said they would keep following the popular #Cuptracker hashtag in hopes of spotting it.

Keith Garner, Mike Topalovich and Sarah Pepper were all on at least their third attempt at catching the Cup on tour.

"Each time I've missed by a couple seconds," 21-year-old Pepper said, just as Topalovich walked up.

"This would be an awesome bar hijack, if you were a bar owner," the 36-year-old Park Ridge resident said. "Drink specials."

• After arriving at O'Hare Airport around 4 a.m., the team brought the trophy to Harry Caray's restaurant in Rosemont, with buses piling up outside the restaurant and Blackhawks piling inside.

• The boys then hauled the Cup down to the South Loop, with Captain Serious, Jonathan Toews, carrying the Cup into the Scout bar and restaurant.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel paid a visit to the team inside the Scout. Emanuel later told reporters: "I didn't know beer was the breakfast of champions."

Later, the Cup emerged from the bar, and word was it was on Interstate 55 headed southwest. TV news choppers followed a black SUV traveling down the expressway.

• Was it headed to Coach Joel Quenneville's suburban home, which was strewn with toilet paper? Well, Coach Q wasn't there. He was eating at Page's restaurant in Hinsdale.

And the Cup wasn't with him.

• Meanwhile, revelers were camped out at the Pony Inn in Lakeview since the wee hours of the morning for a planned party with the Hawks — and the Cup. The beer was flowing, and the line was out the door, but a bar employee said the Cup isn't coming after all.

Exhausted Hawks fans had waited for hours, first outside and then inside Pony Inn, waiting for the Cup, but it never showed.

Most fans whose drinks of choice were split between Bloody Marys and beers thought the team would return to the bar where they partied after their 2010 Cup win.

"Knowing they were here three years ago was the reason," said 44-year-old Dave Wolfson. "It's not too often you're going to have Bloody Marys at 9 a.m. on a Tuesday.

Other fans saw a Facebook post the bar put up during the early hours after the win that said the Cup celebration would begin at 6 a.m.

By about 9:30 a.m. a few patrons began to leave, many of whom had to go to work.

• At 10:45 a.m. the Blackhawks solved the mystery by tweeting a photo of the Cup in the Hawks' dressing room at the United Center.

• At 12:10 p.m., Blackhawks staff told media waiting inside the United Center that the Cup runneth out of the building. But it hadn't.